Pastrolist Leadership Summit to Kick Off Tomorrow in Garissa

The Pastrolist Leadership Summit begins tomorrow 28th February 2019 in Garissa town. The summit brings together members of the national assembly, the Senate and counties leadership. Speaking to Executive Director Mr Jarso Mokku, the summit will discuss security issues, preparation for the upcoming census, Community land protection in the context of mega projects, livestock sector development, environment, and education. Govenors, senators, national assembly members, local assemby members, development partners, diplomat and other leaders are expected to attend.

Its spearheaded by the pastrolist parliamentary group (PPG). Formed in 1998 PPG brings together a large group of parliamentarians representing pastoral communities in the country. 105 members strong, the PPG members in the 12th parliament incorporates 84 National Assembly members and 21 senators. Membership of the PPG is open to all members elected or nominated from the pastoralist counties to the National Assembly and Senate regardless of their political party affiliation* or ethnicity. There are 27 women members. The PPG members represent 15 counties across the country representing 75% of Kenya’s landmass holding a population of more than 7.2 million people with over 2.5 million registered voters in the year 2017.

*Distribution of PPG Members across political parties:

Party

Number of members from PPG Areas

Jubilee

62

Kanu

12

ODM

9

PDR

5

EFP

5

MCCP

3

Wiper

3

KPP

2

Ford Kenya

1

CCM

1

FAP

1

The Pastoralist Counties are often classified as areas with the lowest development indicators and with the highest incidence of poverty despite its highest potential and with great natural resource endowment. The pastoralists are estimated to occupy 89% of the country with about 36% of the national population, 70% of the livestock and 90% of the wild game that supports the country’s thriving tourism industry. Tourism is Kenya’s third biggest foreign income earner.

The region’s misfortune is partly as a result of conscious public policy choices taken in the past. However, the National Policy for the Sustainable Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands set out new radical vision aimed at unlocking the full potential of the region to enable realization of the new Kenya vision 2030. This policy goal is arranged to facilitate and fast track sustainable development in the Northern Kenya and other arid areas to address the existing developmental gaps in line with the region’s realities.

The mission of the PPG is to provide political leadership in the development and implementation of legislative policies to achieve pastoralism’s full potential with a vision to be a critical parliamentary force that ensures security, unity and prosperity for the pastoralists. Its Secretariat espouses to build a unified and sustainable PPG with the capacity to deliver on its mandate, eliminate inter-communal conflicts in the region, realize constitutional, statutory, institutional and policy gains for pastoralist. It seeks to advance the interest of the pastoralists through policy and legislation and contribute towards a more positive recognition of pastoralism in the country and beyond.

The PPG also incorporates County leadership which comprises of 15 Governors and 15 County assemblies representatives.

Registered as a society under the Society’s Act, the group goes by the name Pastoralist Parliament Foundation (PPF). Its coordinated and guided by a Secretariat whose Coordinator is Mr Jarso Mokku who is the Chief Executive Officer of Drylands Learning and Capacity Building Initiative (DCLI). The PPG has a seamless relationship with the NDMA, Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC) and the Drylands Learning and Capacity Building Initiative (DLCI). DLCI currently provides the operational, technical and logistics support on as and when required bases to enhance PPG as an institution. The Coordinator currently has a 10 days funding from the Swiss Embassy through the FCDC. Both the FCDC and the NDMA have a deducted annual budget lines to support the PPG activities. The coordinator represents PPG on the steering committee of the FCDC Livestock Strengthening Sector meeting and Eight Counties that forms the FCDC block provides more than 52% of the PPG membership in the 12th parliament. FCDC provides the platform and channel to domesticate national policies and legislation to the counties. The PPG Secretariat in a synergistic model with the NDMA, DLCI and the FCDC help in policy making, provides leadership and organize meetings, retreats and trainings for members of PPG.

Formed in 1998 what has the PPG achieved for the last 20 years? The policies formulated, the projects implemented and the bottlenecks encountered? We will discuss this next week Tuesday.